Portable forced air heaters provide efficient temporary heating. Portable forced air heaters may be used in a variety of settings, including construction sites, agricultural buildings, industrial workspaces, remodeling jobs, loading docks, and the like. A typical forced air heater includes a fuel storage tank, a combustion chamber, and a blower or fan. The term “forced air” means that the blower or fan pushes air through the combustion chamber. Proper combustion of the fuel depends upon this air flow. Kerosene is a frequently preferred fuel for forced air heaters because of its ability to burn at almost 100% efficiency.
Forced air heaters may be direct fired or ventilated. In a direct fired forced air heater, all of the combustion products enter the heated spaced. In other words, a direct fired forced air heater is not ventilated. A ventilated forced air heater has an exhaust system that removes combustion products via a flue.
Portable forced air heaters, particularly larger units having large fuel storage tanks, are typically supported by a tubular frame, most typically steel. Wheels may be provided so that a user may easily position the heater as desired. The tubular frames of prior art portable forced air heaters are either welded as a single unit or require assembly. The welded single unit frames are bulky and therefore more costly to transport. Frames requiring assembly are not preferred as they may be difficult to assemble or may be subject to incorrect assembly.
A frame according to the present invention addresses the disadvantages of the prior art.
Operating equipment generally requires regular maintenance and servicing in order to continue working effectively. For example, most automobile engines typically require oil changes and maintenance after set periods, such as 3000 miles or 3 months. Kerosene forced air heaters, like automobile engines, require regular maintenance as well. However, currently such heaters lack any means for automatically monitoring the runtime of the heater. The lack of a built in monitor requires the user to manually record and operating time and determine maintenance and servicing needs.